Happy Friday
TYB
NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day
March 27, 2026
Hickson 44 in Leo
Scanning the skies for galaxies, Canadian astronomer Paul Hickson and colleagues identified some 100 compact groups of galaxies, now appropriately called Hickson Compact Groups. The four prominent galaxies seen in this intriguing telescopic skyscape are one such group, Hickson 44. The Hickson 44 galaxy group is about 100 million light-years distant, far beyond the foreground Milky Way stars, toward the northern springtime constellation Leo. The two spiral galaxies in the center of the image are edge-on NGC 3190 with distinctive, warped dust lanes, and S-shaped NGC 3187. Along with the bright elliptical, NGC 3193 (left) they are also known as Arp 316. The spiral toward the lower right corner is NGC 3185, the 4th member of the Hickson group. Like other galaxies in Hickson groups, these show signs of distortion and enhanced star formation, evidence of a gravitational tug of war that will eventually result in galaxy mergers on a cosmic timescale. The merger process is now understood to be a normal part of the evolution of galaxies, including our own Milky Way. For scale, NGC 3190 is about 75,000 light-years across at the estimated distance of Hickson 44.
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NgaZdXs2q5A
Ice Cold Stars, Comet Reversal, Solar Watch | S0 News and TGIF frens
Mar.27.2026
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PoZnfYWDM1o
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=76CMY4UlsWQ (Observers Live #28 - Comets and Solar Storms)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FtDx50gAsMs (BPEarthwatch: We Have Been Lied To/Order out of Chaos)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q8RzZQcOYoA (Sabine Hossenfelder: Real Progress in Wireless Energy Transfer)
https://ddnews.gov.in/en/solar-study-cracks-long-standing-radio-burst-mystery-offers-boost-to-space-weather-forecasting/
https://newsroom.nmsu.edu/news/nmsu-astronomy-student-s-research-on-coronal-holes-improves-space-weather-forecasting/s/bb3222af-0d64-4162-9ed2-8e159ac6a9c4
https://www.miragenews.com/scientists-find-alien-space-weather-stations-1645970/
https://carnegiescience.edu/naturally-occurring-space-weather-station-elucidates-new-way-study-habitability-planets-orbiting-m
https://x.com/schumannbot/status/2037530112770363803
https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/map/
https://www.volcanodiscovery.com/earthquakes-volcanoes/news/298687/Volcano-earthquake-report-for-Friday-27-Mar-2026.html
https://www.swpc.noaa.gov/products/aurora-viewline-tonight-and-tomorrow-night-experimental
https://www.swpc.noaa.gov/
https://spaceweather.com/
https://www.theweathernetwork.com/en/news/science/space/why-are-we-seeing-so-many-bright-fireball-meteors-lately
https://www.ksat.com/weather/2026/03/27/cameras-capture-rare-meteorite-sightings-across-united-states/
https://www.wkbn.com/news/local-news/cortland-news/fireball-traveled-over-area-on-thursday-nasa/
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/two-green-fireballs-streaked-across-the-west-coast-sky-some-of-the-latest-in-a-string-of-dazzling-meteors-above-the-us-180988441/
https://www.nasa.gov/blogs/watch-the-skies/2026/03/26/its-fireball-season-answering-your-meteor-questions/
https://twitter.com/Cmdr_Hadfield/status/2036807120671105306?
https://x.com/MiddleOfMayhem/status/2036861555082448992
With so many bright fireball meteors lately, what's going on?
Mar. 27, 2026, 3:00 AM
It has been March meteor madness so far this month, with an uptick in larger space rocks being swept up by our planet!
There has been a noticeable uptick in the number of bright meteor fireballs spotted throughout the month of March so far. So, what's happening?
This all apparently started on a crisp, fairly clear morning on March 17, 2026, when a roughly 2-metre wide asteroid exploded over northern Ohio.
The bright meteor caused by this asteroid was spotted from as far away as northern Michigan, western Illinois, and North Carolina, and it touched off a sonic boom that was heard across the lower Great Lakes region.
Although initial reports cast doubt on the likelihood of finding meteorites from this event, several were located in Medina County, Ohio.
According to the American Meteor Society (AMS), these were rare "HED achondrite" meteorites, which may originate from the surface of 4 Vesta, the second largest object in the asteroid belt.
In the days that followed this event, additional bright fireballs were seen over different parts of the United States.
On March 21, an estimated 1-metre wide asteroid plunged into the atmosphere over southeastern Texas. According to NASA, its passage through the atmosphere produced a pressure wave that caused sonic booms heard throughout the area.
Doppler weather radar in the area even caught meteorites falling to the ground from this impact, one of which apparently crashed through the roof of a house, bounced off the floor, hit the ceiling again, and then clattered to a stop. Fortunately, nobody was injured.
The day after that, on March 22, another fireball was spotted over southern California, followed by one more in central Michigan on March 23.
However, these were only the events that have occurred since the March 17 bolide caught our attention.
Going back to the beginning of March 2026, the AMS lists a total of 94 fireball events with at least 5 witness reports to back them up.
Roughly one-third of these were spotted from Europe, with the rest seen over different regions of the United States, including nearly a dozen that were also spotted from parts of Canada.
Of that total, 19 events were reported by 50 people or more, 10 had over 100 reports, and one even had more than 3,000 witnesses.
That singular event, a daytime fireball on March 8, occurred over Luxembourg and western Germany, at around 7 p.m. local time. To date, the AMS has 3,229 witness reports from across France, Germany, Luxembourg, Belgium, The Netherlands, and Switzerland.
Along with these reports, scores of videos and photographs were included of the bolide itself and the resulting smoke trail it left behind in the air.
Scientists with the European Space Agency have gone over the data and footage from this event.
They determined that it was likely an object a few metres across. Thus, it was similar (at least in size) to the one that exploded over Ohio on March 17.
According to the ESA, objects of that size hit Earth at least once every few weeks, up to once every few years.
So, what's going on?
Well, we can rule out meteor showers, as none are currently active in our skies. The last one, the Quadrantids, peaked on the night of January 3, and was over by the 12th.
The next one, the Lyrids, hasn't started yet, as it's active from April 14-30, and peaks on the night of April 22.
Also, there are no large asteroids or comets headed towards us. While science fiction stories have used the trope of smaller impacts heralding a much larger incoming strike, we don't have to worry about that here.
Telescopes can spot dangerous near-Earth objects weeks, months, or even years in advance, before they ever get close to Earth.
Those that have slipped by these observations have only been smaller ones, which don't pose a serious threat, and we are getting better at detecting those, all the time.
1/2
Now, on any night of the year it is possible to look up and see a random, 'sporadic' meteor flash by overhead. In fact, anywhere from 14 to 100 tonnes of meteoroids and space dust is swept up by Earth's atmosphere, each and every day.
Most of the meteors from these objects are missed, because they happen over remote areas, or when it is too bright or cloudy out to notice them.
Related to this, there is a well-known phenomenon where the number of sporadic fireballs increases around this time of year.
"From February through April, the appearance rate of these very bright meteors can increase by as much as 10% to 30%, especially around the weeks of the March equinox," NASA says.
"Exactly why is not known. Some astronomers think the Earth passes through more large debris at this time of year, causing an uptick in fireball sightings."
For this reason, this time of year is often called 'Fireball Season'.
Something unusual?
According to Mike Hankey, from the American Meteor Society, an analysis of these recent significant fireball events, as reported on their website, revealed an interesting trend.
So far in 2026, their data doesn't show any significant increase in the total number of fireballs being reported, compared to previous years.
What has changed, though, is that the number of significant events — those with at least 50 witness reports each — has roughly doubled compared to the average of the past five years of reports from the same period (January-March).
"So it's not that more rocks are hitting us — it's that more of them are big enough to notice," Hankey wrote in a post on March 25.
One thing that supports this idea is the number of sonic booms reported along with these significant fireballs.
A sonic boom is caused when an object compresses the air around it, causing pressure waves to form and spread away from the source.
For a meteoroid to produce one, it must reach the denser air lower down in the atmosphere. To survive that journey, the object needs to be larger and denser than most.
Based on Hankey's analysis, out of the 38 significant fireballs from January to the present day in 2026, roughly 80 percent were large enough to cause a sonic boom. This is unusual.
As he detailed in the report, both 2021 and 2023 also saw roughly 80 per cent sonic boom-producing fireballs between January and March, but that was with fewer significant fireballs (only 21 in 2021 and 16 in 2023).
This year is unique in that it has both more significant fireballs and a higher percentage of them producing sonic booms.
"Thirty large fireball events producing audible booms in a single quarter means roughly one every three days," Hankey wrote.
Difficult to know, for sure
There is one limiting factor to all of this — there is no way to know, for sure, about what is happening, simply due to a lack of records for comparison.
Meteors occur all around the world, every night. However, with Earth's surface roughly 70 per cent open ocean, and its human population clustered in specific regions of the landmasses, there is a lot of area left where these events can go unobserved.
NASA can track fireballs, of course.
They keep a running tally of these events, from April 1988 to the present, based on special sensors picking up infrasound, due to meteoroids exploding in the atmosphere, or the flash of the fireball being picked up by the Geostationary Lightning Mapper instruments on NOAA's GOES weather satellites.
However, these fireballs need to be large enough to be picked up by these sensors.
The AMS site is dependent on people observing fireballs, either with their own eyes or on videos captured on their equipment, and then reporting the details of those events in an accurate way.
And given the fact that fireballs happen so high in the atmosphere it is very challenging to track their exact trajectories based on these reports.
There is the Global Meteor Network, headed by Denis Vida, of the University of Western Ontario, which has the stated goal of establishing a global network of cameras pointed at the night sky.
However, they still have a ways to go before they reach that goal.
So, when it comes down to it, there is really no way of knowing exactly how many fireballs fall around the world.
What we're seeing now may be completely normal. Similar fireballs may have occurred in previous years, but over regions where they were missed, and the only thing different this year is that they happened where people could witness them.
Perhaps once this Fireball Season has ended, further analysis can yield more insights into what might be happening.
2/2
Anytime they'd like to start handing out the cool stuff to transition to, that's be great
more pixelated goodness
3I/ATLAS ANOMALY CONFIRM IT'S A SPACESHIP!
March 26, 2026
There's a massive object in space. It's 3i Atlas and it's bigger than Oumuamua.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aEKvydC8-BU
https://x.com/DobsonianPower
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=grsOBXDHbm8 (Angry Astronaut: New discovery suggests 3I Atlas surrounded by nuclear probes! Did NASA spot one on Mars?)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=laDT14TUn7k (David Sereda: 3I/Atlas sends Humanity PROFOUND Message TODAY, Jesus Annunciation Day as it crosses Jupiter)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2sUAWiNew2M (John Michael Godier: Searching the Moon for Alien Technosignatures)
https://avi-loeb.medium.com/strong-non-gravitational-breaking-by-interstellar-objects-is-a-technological-signature-99511ecb855c
https://astrobiology.com/2026/03/how-open-nasa-data-on-comet-3i-atlas-will-power-tomorrows-discoveries.html
Who is Artemis? Meet the Greek goddess who inspired NASA's return to the moon
March 26, 2026
NASA is gearing up to send astronauts back toward the moon for the first time in more than 50 years with Artemis 2 — a mission that marks the next chapter in human lunar exploration — but who is Artemis?
The Artemis program is named for the Greek goddess of the moon and wilderness, and represents the agency's most ambitious human exploration campaign since the Apollo program — the series of missions that first carried astronauts to the lunar surface more than 50 years ago.
Artemis 2, the program's first crewed mission, will send four astronauts on a roughly 10‑day free‑return flight around the moon and back to Earth.
Together, Artemis and Apollo form a symbolic, and literal, bridge between the past and future of human spaceflight. Unlike Apollo, which focused on short-term missions, Artemis aims to establish a sustained human presence on and around the moon.
NASA also plans to explore new regions, particularly near the lunar south pole, where water ice may support long-term habitation and future missions to Mars.
But in the excitement over human exploration of the moon, the meanings behind the missions' namesakes and the mythological figures that inspired them can get lost. Just who were Artemis and Apollo?
Who is Artemis?
In Greek mythology, Artemis is the twin sister of Apollo and the goddess of the moon, hunting and wild places. In Roman mythology, she is known as Diana. Artemis is the daughter of Zeus, who rules over all of the other gods, and Leto, one of the goddesses of childhood.
Artemis is often portrayed as independent, fiercely protective and closely connected to nature — qualities that resonate with NASA's vision for a sustainable lunar program and mission designed to explore uncharted territory. She is often depicted carrying a bow, or sometimes a torch.
While Apollo missions landed near the moon's equator, Artemis 3 and future missions will venture farther south than any human mission before, investigating permanently shadowed craters and new lunar landscapes.
The goddess's association with protection and renewal also mirrors NASA's emphasis on sustainability, international partnerships and long-term exploration.
NASA has also highlighted the symbolic importance of Artemis as a female figure, aligning with the program's goal to land the first woman on the moon.
Who is Apollo?
Apollo, Artemis's twin brother, is the Greek god of the sun, light, music and prophecy. In spaceflight history, his name is synonymous with NASA's original moon program, which flew between 1961 and 1972 and culminated in six successful lunar landings.
The Apollo missions proved that humans could travel to another world, work there and return safely — a technological and cultural achievement that defined a generation.
Apollo 11's first lunar landing in 1969 remains one of the most iconic moments in human history, symbolizing exploration, ambition and ingenuity.
The pairing of Apollo and Artemis is more than poetic. In mythology, the twins balance day and night, or sun and moon. In spaceflight, Apollo represents what humanity has already accomplished, while Artemis represents what comes next.
Now, Artemis 2 prepares to carry astronauts back toward the moon. NASA is now targeting April 1 for the historic launch, although the timing will depend on technical and weather conditions.
While Apollo paved the way to the moon, the Artemis program builds on that legacy, advancing human exploration and establishing a sustainable presence beyond Earth.
https://www.space.com/space-exploration/artemis/who-is-artemis-meet-the-goddess-who-inspired-nasas-return-to-the-moon
https://www.nasa.gov/general/nasa-releases-artemis-ii-moon-mission-launch-countdown/
https://news.rice.edu/news/2026/rice-experts-available-discuss-artemis-ii-mission-nasa-targets-launch
extra Artemis II
https://www.space.com/space-exploration/artemis/how-to-watch-nasas-artemis-2-send-humans-to-the-moon-for-the-1st-time-in-over-50-years
https://spacewatch.global/2026/03/goonhilly-earth-station-to-track-nasas-artemis-ii-mission-as-humans-return-to-the-moon/
https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/14934/
https://nasawatch.com/artemis/nasa-how-to-guide-for-artemis-interviews/
https://phys.org/news/2026-03-nasa-artemis-ii-mission-astronaut.html
https://procurementmag.com/news/nasa-artemis-ii-multi-tier-procurement
Expedition 74 Works Health Research and Cargo Operations on Thursday + Extra
March 26, 2026 4:22PM
Health research, biology experiments, cleaning, and cargo operations were the main tasks on Thursday’s schedule aboard the International Space Station.
The Expedition 74 crew worked an array of activities that look at how the human body reacts to space, analyzed samples for microbial growth, and unloaded a cargo delivery.
NASA astronaut Jessica Meir and European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut kicked off the day collecting biological samples to take a deeper look at how the human body and its functions react and adapt to spaceflight.
Afterward, Adenot prepped the samples before stowing them in the orbital lab’s Minus Eighty-Degree Freezer for future analysis.
Meir moved into the Destiny laboratory module to collect water samples from the Potable Water Dispenser. Adenot later processed those samples to assess for any microbial growth.
Adenot then began to gather items for an upcoming tech demonstration that uses environmental sensors to collect CO2 measurements.
In the Kibo module, NASA astronaut Chris Williams spent part of his day moving and consolidating stowage. He then removed modules from the Nanoracks main frame to make room for new installations.
Williams completed his two-hours of daily exercise on the station’s Advanced Resistive Exercise Device (ARED) and treadmill, to help maintain cardiovascular health and bone and muscle density in zero gravity.
NASA astronaut Jack Hathaway kicked off the day with his two hours of exercise on ARED and the station’s bicycle, CEVIS. Later on, he cleaned vent fans in the Unity module.
Near the end of the day, he moved into the Permanent Multipurpose Module to organize stowage and clean with Meir.
Cargo operations were ongoing in the Roscosmos segment throughout the day. In the morning, station commander Sergey Kud-Sverchkov and flight engineer Sergei Mikaev worked together to disassemble the docking mechanism inside the Poisk module.
The duo, along with flight engineer Andrey Fedyaev, then spent the day unloading cargo from the recently arrived Progress 94 spacecraft, in addition to a few other tasks, including food consolidation, general maintenance, and data transfers.
https://www.nasa.gov/blogs/spacestation/2026/03/26/expedition-74-works-health-research-and-cargo-operations-on-thursday/
extra
https://www.nasa.gov/hrp/researchers-help-nasa-address-blood-clot-formation-in-space/
https://science.nasa.gov/earth/earth-observatory/satellite-spots-a-spawn/
https://www.nasa.gov/centers-and-facilities/johnson/station-nation-aaron-rose-cold-stowage-mission-manager/
https://go2tutors.com/most-impressive-photos-from-nasa/
https://payloadspace.com/jared-isaacman-hits-100-days-in-office-with-a-bang/
extra Isaacman
https://x.com/NASAAdmin/status/2037349791051485559
Jared Isaacman Hits 100 Days In Office With a Bang
March 27, 2026
NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman has one message: Get in, we’re going to the Moon.
Isaacman travelled around the nation’s capital this week, delivering this same message to different sectors of the space community, including NASA’s industry and international partners, Silicon Valley tech execs, and officials focused on the agency’s global-soft-power capability.
Reactions are mixed, but one thing is clear: Isaacman’s NASA is making big shifts to change the conversation.
Century club: Isaacman will mark his 100th day on the job on Saturday. After taking office in December, he kicked off a listening tour to visit centers and hear from employees.
Once that was done, he wasted no time—and made no apologies—for shaping the agency into his mold for success.
In his first 100 days, Isaacman has announced many efforts, including:
A shift in NASA’s workforce strategy, to cut the agency’s reliance on contractors;
A new timeline for the Artemis program, including flying more often and pushing a crewed surface landing to NET Artemis IV;
Plans for a lunar base, a fleet of Mars copters delivered by nuclear power, and dramatic shifts to procurement programs including CLPS, LTV and CLD—all part of a marathon day on Tuesday in which NASA officials spent more than eight hours laying out the new path forward.
Isaacman also spoke about each of these efforts—publicly and to press—marking what is hopefully a new era of transparency for the agency that has been less-than-forthcoming in recent years.
Messaging tour: Isaacman hit three events in DC this week, selling his new vision for NASA to keep stakeholders across different sectors of the industry.
At the full-day NASA Ignition event on Tuesday, Isaacman tried to sell the NASA workforce and industry execs on his bid to make the impossible happen—both to inspire the next generation, and to beat China to the Moon.
To do so, he stripped away programs NASA has taken on over the years—missions that spread the agency thin trying to “satisfy every stakeholder,” according to Isaacman—to focus the agency’s money and talent on accomplishing “the headlines only NASA is capable of making.”
“Now we find ourselves with a real political rival,” Isaacman said. “They may be early, and recent history suggests we might be late. This is why it is imperative we leave an event like Ignition with complete alignment on the national imperative that is our collective mission.”
1/2
After his opening remarks, Isaacman sat on stage while senior NASA officials delivered what they framed as exciting plans for the future, intermingled with bluntly delivered blows to programs that didn’t fit into that vision.
Isaacman left only to speak at the Hill and Valley Forum, where he pitched his plans to a very different audience.
At the forum, he played up the national security implications of NASA not winning Space Race 2.0.
If NASA can build a lunar base, he said, other nations will believe there’s nothing the US can’t do—and will think twice about provocations as a result.
If the agency fails, however, adversaries may wonder where else the US is failing.
“Like it or not, NASA has a role to play in national security,” he said.
The next day, Isaacman addressed a diplomacy-focused global audience—at the smallest, most intimate gathering of his week—at the Meridian Space Diplomacy Forum.
He highlighted the importance of the Artemis Accords, and the ”essential” lunar base contributions expected from allies.
“This is how we ensure that, as we return to the Moon and beyond, we do it together and we do it for all mankind,” he said.
Chatter box: Isaacman’s remarks this week were the subject of nearly every conversation had on the sidelines of the Satellite conference in DC.
While specifics of those conversations remain off the record, these were some of the big themes we heard.
Many space leaders seemed cautiously optimistic—excited about the urgency and the grand plan, but also keenly aware that Isaacman’s announcement was only the first small step in a long line of things that would need to go right to take his Moon-base vision from rendering to reality. From securing the required budget, to getting congressional buy-in, to surviving potential political shifts, NASA has a long road ahead—and that’s not even considering the technical challenges.
Others, however, were less than thrilled about the dramatic changes—and the way they were shared. NASA announced the day-long meeting for the Ignition event on March 19, with less than a week’s notice.
Some in industry felt they’d had the rug pulled out from under them, spending months or years investing in manufacturing and staff to meet demand from NASA, only to have things shift—in some cases very close to the finish line.
One space official said some in industry had taken to calling it the “Artemis ambush.”
And major questions remain about how NASA’s international partners for Artemis will fit into the new lunar push, especially how tech for the paused Gateway program will fit into surface operations.
The bottom line: One common sentiment shared among nearly everyone we talked to: WTF? It’s still early days, and everyone is still trying to parse through what this means for them.
While some execs were left with their heads spinning on how to navigate the new landscape, many acknowledged that the short-term confusion would likely lead to long-term gain—and skyrocketing demand if NASA actually buys what’s needed to build the lunar base.
The next step to seeing how much of Isaacman’s vision can become a reality? The drop of the agency’s FY2027 budget request, expected next week.
2/2
https://arstechnica.com/space/2026/03/we-got-an-audience-with-the-lunar-viceroy-to-talk-how-nasa-will-build-a-moon-base/
We got an audience with the “Lunar Viceroy” to talk how NASA will build a Moon base
Mar 25, 2026 12:21 PM
At the end of a long day on Tuesday, NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman looked down at a table littered with microphones and jokingly referred to the space agency’s new Moon base manager, Carlos Garcia-Galan, as the “Lunar Viceroy.”
It was a bit of humor, but it also seemed to represent affection from Isaacman for a long-time NASA employee so willingly taking on a major new challenge.
Garcia-Galan was, in many ways, the emerging star at the daylong Ignition event in Washington, DC. Heretofore he has largely been an anonymous engineer at NASA who has now been thrust into a very public role of leading the agency’s ambitious Moon base initiative.
(His official title, by the way, is program executive.)
Ars had a chance to speak with Garcia-Galan about NASA’s plans and, more importantly, how they might be implemented. Here is a lightly edited (for clarity) transcript of that conversation.
Ars: You were previously involved with the Lunar Gateway, which has effectively been canceled to build a Moon base, so I’d love to hear about whether this is a difficult transition for you.
Carlos Garcia-Galan: So change is always hard. But it was not hard from the perspective of having the focus on doing something that’s directly related to the objectives we have at hand, which are bringing humans back to the surface of the Moon and building an outpost.
So while I do believe that an orbiting outpost has value in the overall exploration goals, it doesn’t mean that we can’t do it later. We need to be focused on the surface, and everybody wants to be on the surface.
So I’m super excited, and I’m sure the rest of the Gateway team will be, once they pivot and start shifting their focus to that.
Ars: I could tell from your talk that you were really fired up about this.
Carlos Garcia-Galan: Absolutely. Who wouldn’t be? Yeah.
Ars: I mean, I would be. But I also recognize, as you said, that this is a huge challenge. What is the most pressing thing you want to do first to tackle this?
Carlos Garcia-Galan: So first of all, one of the things that we talked about today is bringing the entire NASA might and resources to bear on this.
So I think, immediately, we’re going to be working with all the programs and projects that are doing something related to lunar exploration, including Gateway with the previous architecture, and trying to stitch it all together. Because there’s great work that has happened so far.
We just need to basically focus on the things that are more relevant to the critical path.
You know, the cadence (of launches and landings) that we previewed today is not in our experience base at NASA. It’s very demanding. I think it’s important, it’s critical that we set it that way, to identify the stress points.
We want to find the choke points that are slowing us down. It’s the same with human transportation, with demanding two landings on the Moon a year. Like, what is it that prevents us from doing that? We need to identify that.
In my case, for the Moon base, it’s the entire industry of people doing launches, in-space transportation, landers, payloads, rovers. So is it the supply chain? Is it the manufacturing capacity?
I want to work with our partners to identify the stress points so we can actually tackle them. And close after that is bringing in our international partners and identifying where they want to play.
1/2
Ars: Yeah, I think a lot of people have been wondering about Europe, Canada, Japan, and others. You’ve been talking to them. What’s the reaction been so far from the international partners to canceling Gateway and building a Moon base instead?
Carlos Garcia-Galan: Everybody’s excited about it. I don’t think I’ve seen one negative response. Of course, making a hard pivot on architecture, like with Gateway, you’ve got to think about the investments people have made, emotional and resource wise.
But look, we’re all trying to do the same thing. We could all make more money somewhere else. We’re into this for human exploration. The Moon is the next place. Being on the surface is the right objective. So we’ll all get there.
Ars: Isaacman has made it clear that a Moon base should be NASA’s priority and has told people at the agency to focus on this. Before there was talk about going to lunar orbit.
There was talk about the surface. There were the commercial landers. But it seemed like there was no clear vision for what NASA was going to do at the Moon. How helpful is this clarity on NASA’s goals and purpose?
Carlos Garcia-Galan: This mandate is a total game-changer. I’m gonna call it the Jared (Isaacman) factor. I have not been a lunar surface person in the past. I’ve worked on Orion. I’ve worked on Gateway. I was a flight controller.
But I’ve seen all the great work over the last month or so that we’ve been doing to stitch this plan together. Seeing all the great work that everybody has been doing is super energizing.
And it has been clear that we all need to be focused on one thing, not 10 things. So to me, that is a game changer.
Ars: Does the budget exist to support all of the activities you have planned on and near the Moon? It seems like an awful lot.
Carlos Garcia-Galan: We have forecasted $10 billion per phase, or so. A lot of that comes from the different pieces that we’ve already been doing.
Like, for example, we talked about a constellation of communications satellites around the Moon, five assets we had in the budget already. But now, every single thing we do to those spacecraft is going to be oriented to what we need for a lunar base.
CLPS (the Commercial Lunar Payload Service program) already had money, and we’re drastically expanding it. And some of that money will get drawn from other things that we’re going to refocus.
So the money, especially for the initial phases, as far as how budget procurement or appropriations gets forecasted, is there. Of course there’s going to be some challenges when you move accounts and change things.
There’s some inefficiencies, but there’s also opportunities. Maybe we can co-manifest a bunch of stuff that is going to the same place, you know, drones with something else. So, yeah, it’s going to be a challenge.
You always want more money, need more. We may have to adjust, but we’re in the ballpark.
Ars: What would you say to people who looked at today’s presentation and say, well, it all seems pretty fanciful. Or they say it’s aspirational, or we’ve seen this before with Constellation 20 years ago. Is it going to be different this time?
We have to make it different. We can’t do the same thing and expect a different result. So it starts with me. Well, it really starts with the administrator, but he already laid down the vision and the management chain, and I absolutely intend to do things differently.
As a matter of fact, I’m not focusing on fancy things to begin with. I’m focusing on how do we remove the blockers and chokeholds? Like, let’s look at the supply chain. Let’s hear from our vendors. Those are the brass tacks that I’m going to be focusing on. A
nd we’re leveraging the team. I mean, we’ve gotten top cover from the administrator to bring whatever we need to bear. Like, if it’s expertise from JPL, bring it on.
If it’s facilities that we already have, what’s happening in those facilities, and is that directly oriented towards the key objectives that we have? And if it’s not, then we’re taking priority. So the intent, absolutely, is to do things differently.
2/2
https://astrobiology.com/2026/03/resurrecting-ancient-enzymes-in-nasas-search-for-life-beyond-earth.html
https://science.nasa.gov/astrobiology/
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-025-67423-y
Resurrecting Ancient Enzymes in NASA’s Search For Life Beyond Earth
March 27, 2026
NASA-supported scientists have resurrected an enzyme first used by organisms on Earth 3.2-billion years ago and, in the process, have validated a chemical biosignature in rocks that is used to understand ancient life on Earth.
The research provides a new understanding of what Earth’s biosphere was like early in our planet’s history and confirms a reliable biosignature that could be used by robotic or human explorers to look for signs of ancient life on other worlds.
Nitrogen, Earth’s biosphere
The study, published in Nature Communications on Jan. 22 , focuses on a type of metabolism called nitrogen fixation, or diazotrophy. This process is what converts biologically unusable nitrogen in Earth’s atmosphere into molecules that all living organisms use to survive.
On Earth, there is a select group of organisms called diazotrophs that can perform nitrogen fixation. This group is a motley crew of bacteria (and a few archaea and eukaryotes) that are found dotted across different branches of the tree of life.
Some diazotrophs are free-living organisms that fix nitrogen as they go about their day. Others are symbiotic and survive in partnership with other organisms, living in places like plant roots, lichens, fungi, and even the guts of termites and shipworms.
What ties this varied group of organisms together is that they all contain an enzyme called nitrogenase.
This enzyme gives them the power to convert nitrogen gas from the atmosphere into compounds that are essential for building some of life’s most important molecules, such as proteins and DNA.
Specifically, they convert diatomic nitrogen (N2) into biologically useful forms of nitrogen such as ammonia (NH3), thereby allowing nitrogen to enter the food chain.
In this way, every organism in Earth’s entire biosphere relies on diazotrophs to provide the nitrogen we all need to survive.
Nitrogenase through time
Because nitrogen fixation is critical for life as we know it, scientists believe that nitrogenase must have evolved early in life’s history, at a time when only single-celled microorganisms existed.
“Early life on Earth operated under conditions so different from today that it may have appeared almost alien,” said Betül Kaçar, who leads the Kaçar Lab at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
With support from NASA, Kaçar and her team are working to understand the history of life at a planetary scale and the potential for life in the universe by rebuilding extinct biochemistries used by ancient organisms.
“Studying these systems helps us understand not just where life can exist, but what life can be.”
Details about early life on Earth are obscure because the fossils microorganisms leave behind in the rock record can be ambiguous or difficult to attribute.
However, when nitrogen from the atmosphere is fixed, it is slightly altered in a way scientists can recognize. The isotopic signature of the nitrogen atoms within the diazotroph is changed.
Over time, as the microorganisms die, this altered nitrogen gets incorporated into rocks. Sediments are laid down, become buried, compressed, worn, and churned through the ages of the Earth.
Yet even after billions of years, scientists can still identify the N-isotope biosignature left by ancient diazotrophs in the geological record.
By looking at the N-isotope record, scientists can thereby estimate when nitrogenase enzymes first appeared.
1/2
Building ancient enzyme
Questions about the accuracy of using N-isotopes as a biosignature have been raised in the past. Like life itself, enzymes evolve over time. As environmental conditions on Earth change, enzymes are altered at the molecular level in response.
The original nitrogenase was likely smaller and less complicated than the version we see in organisms now. This means that the N-isotope signatures left behind by ancient nitrogenase enzymes could be different than the ones we see today.
To solve the question of whether N-isotopes can indeed be used as a robust biosignature, the team used synthetic biology techniques to resurrect possible ancient versions of the enzyme.
They reverse-engineered modern nitrogenase, peeling away layers of evolution to reveal simpler versions of the enzyme that might have existed long ago.
The behaviors of the older versions of the enzyme were then observed when they were inserted into living microbes. What they found is that N-isotope signatures have remained the same for billions of years.
The results prove that the isotopic signatures of nitrogen fixation in Earth’s oldest rocks do indeed reflect the activity of early life.
“As you step back in time, the DNA sequences of these ancient nitrogenases are very different than modern nitrogenases,” said Holly Rucker, a doctoral candidate in the Kaçar Lab and lead author on the paper.
“We also see that the enzyme structure varies with age. Yet we find that despite these sequence and structure-level differences, these ancient enzymes still do the same chemistry as their modern descendants.”
The collection of synthetic genes created by the team also represent different versions of nitrogenase that would have existed over a span of two billion years of evolutionary history.
This has helped fill in gaps of knowledge about how nitrogenase has changed over time, and what ancient nitrogen fixers were like.
“This research reveals how robust nitrogenase (and its associated N-isotope signature) are to change, at both an enzyme sequence level and at the planetary environment level,” explains Rucker.
“The fact that the ancestral nitrogenases produce the same isotopic signature throughout billions of years of molecular tinkering, and in the face of drastic changes to the Earth’s environment, really highlights the potential of N-isotopes as a biosignature.
Another key aspect of this work is that it provides further validation of our interpretation of the most ancient nitrogenase signatures in the rock record on Earth, which is important for understanding the timing of when critical metabolisms like nitrogen fixation emerged on Earth.”
Because nitrogen fixation is such an important part of biology on Earth, the research could also provide clues in the search for life beyond our planet.
“If we want to recognize life beyond Earth, we can’t limit ourselves to life as we know it today,” said Kaçar.
Nitrogenase, search for life
Now that scientists have validated the use of N-isotopes as a biosignature for ancient life on Earth, the same technique could potentially be used on other rocky worlds.
“Validated biosignatures like nitrogen isotopes give us a powerful tool for planetary exploration and access to lost biological histories” said Kaçar.
“If similar signals are found on Mars or other rocky worlds, they could point to ancient metabolisms that once supported life under very different conditions. Studying these systems helps us understand not just where life can exist, but what life can be.”
2/2
https://www.nasa.gov/news-release/nasa-to-unveil-complete-roman-telescope-host-media-briefing/
https://science.nasa.gov/mission/roman-space-telescope/
extra extra
https://science.nasa.gov/earth/arctic-winter-sea-ice-2026/
https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/14979/
NASA to Unveil Complete Roman Telescope, Host Media Briefing + extra extra
Mar 26, 2026
Media are invited Tuesday, April 21, to NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, for a look at the agency’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, which recently completed construction and is wrapping up prelaunch testing.
This will be one of the last opportunities to view the fully integrated flagship telescope before it ships to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida ahead of a launch planned as early as this fall.
With NASA Goddard’s largest clean room as a backdrop, the event will include a news conference at 4 p.m. EDT, which will stream on NASA’s YouTube channel. Learn how to stream NASA content through a variety of online platforms, including social media.
NASA participants in the briefing include:
NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman
Nicky Fox, associate administrator, Science Mission Directorate, NASA Headquarters, Washington
Jamie Dunn, Roman telescope project manager, NASA Goddard
Julie McEnery, Roman telescope senior project scientist, NASA Goddard
Media interested in participating by phone must RSVP no later than two hours prior to the start of the briefing to Alise Fisher, alise.m.fisher@nasa.gov. A copy of NASA’s media accreditation policy is online.
Credentialed media in attendance also will have the opportunity to visit other center facilities and conduct interviews with subject matter experts on topics such as NASA’s Lunar Environment Monitoring Station candidate payload for the Artemis program, the DAVINCI mission to Venus, the Habitable Worlds Observatory mission concept, and the Dragonfly mission to Saturn’s moon Titan.
To be considered for on-site credentials, foreign national media must register by Wednesday, April 1; U.S. media must register by Friday, April 10. Any media RSVPs must be sent to Rob Garner, rob.garner@nasa.gov.
Named after NASA’s first chief astronomer, the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope will have a deep, panoramic view of the cosmos, generating never-before-seen pictures that will revolutionize our understanding of the universe.
The observatory will usher in a new era of cosmic surveys, unveiling troves of celestial objects and shedding light on some of the universe’s most profound mysteries, including phenomena we can’t see.
Roman will also showcase cutting-edge technology, including a test of the most advanced technology ever flown in space to directly image planets around nearby stars, a key step in NASA’s search for life on other worlds.
1/2
The Roman telescope is managed at NASA Goddard with participation by the agency’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California; Caltech/IPAC in Pasadena, California; the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore; and a science team comprising scientists from various research institutions.
The primary industrial partners are BAE Systems Inc. in Boulder, Colorado; L3Harris Technologies in Rochester, New York; and Teledyne Scientific & Imaging in Thousand Oaks, California.
Contributions to Roman also are made by ESA (European Space Agency), JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency), the French space agency CNES (Centre National d’Études Spatiales), and the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy in Germany.
To be considered for on-site credentials, foreign national media must register by Wednesday, April 1; U.S. media must register by Friday, April 10. Any media RSVPs must be sent to Rob Garner, rob.garner@nasa.gov.
Named after NASA’s first chief astronomer, the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope will have a deep, panoramic view of the cosmos, generating never-before-seen pictures that will revolutionize our understanding of the universe.
The observatory will usher in a new era of cosmic surveys, unveiling troves of celestial objects and shedding light on some of the universe’s most profound mysteries, including phenomena we can’t see.
Roman will also showcase cutting-edge technology, including a test of the most advanced technology ever flown in space to directly image planets around nearby stars, a key step in NASA’s search for life on other worlds.
The Roman telescope is managed at NASA Goddard with participation by the agency’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California; Caltech/IPAC in Pasadena, California; the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore; and a science team comprising scientists from various research institutions.
The primary industrial partners are BAE Systems Inc. in Boulder, Colorado; L3Harris Technologies in Rochester, New York; and Teledyne Scientific & Imaging in Thousand Oaks, California.
Contributions to Roman also are made by ESA (European Space Agency), JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency), the French space agency CNES (Centre National d’Études Spatiales), and the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy in Germany.
2/2
Japan's ispace delays NASA-sponsored moon landing to 2030
March 27, 20267:33 AM UTC
Japanese spacecraft startup ispace (9348.T), opens new tab said on Friday it will further delay a U.S. government-sponsored lunar mission to 2030 and cut its global workforce, in a strategic shift after two failed lunar landings.
The announcement highlights the murky outlook for the venture, as the U.S. revamps space missions with commercial and international partners to send astronauts to the Moon before China does.
Tokyo-based ispace said it will consolidate moon lander development across its Japanese and U.S. units and push back a launch commissioned under NASA's commercial lunar payload services program by three years from 2027, following previous delays.
In the meantime, ispace said it would launch five lunar orbiters by 2030 that can provide telecommunication, navigation and surface observation services to contribute to development on the Moon.
The company could incur costs of several million dollars due to the changes, which could lead to further equity financing and a reduction of a few dozen staff, Chief Financial Officer Jumpei Nozaki told a media briefing.
Since its 2023 Tokyo stock listing, ispace has had two failed lunar landing attempts, has been running at a loss and has seen its share price slump. It had about 300 employees across Japan, the U.S. and Luxembourg as of last year.
Its third mission is scheduled for 2028 as part of the Japanese government's commercial space program. It will launch its "Ultra" lunar lander which is capable of carrying a 200 kg (441 lbs) payload to the Moon.
Only two private companies, Intuitive Machines (LUNR.O), opens new tab and Firefly Aerospace - both from the U.S. - have landed on the Moon.
NASA on Tuesday announced updates to its Artemis program, including plans to send up to 30 uncrewed missions to the lunar surface starting next year.
"While it's true that we are moving against NASA's push to accelerate moon missions in 2028-29 … as the only (private company) outside the U.S. with moon landing technology, we are seeking a greater role in their program," Nozaki said.
Changes to the American space programme under President Donald Trump has led to confusion among Japanese space ventures that had hoped for deeper U.S.-Japan cooperation to counter China.
Tokyo-based rocket startup ISC, whose chief executive sits on the ispace management board, in December cancelled a launch test in New Mexico, citing disruption in regulatory procedures.
https://www.reuters.com/science/japans-ispace-delays-nasa-sponsored-moon-landing-2030-2026-03-27/
Advancement of “Science as a Service (SaaS)” for NASA and Commercial Partners Request for Information
March 26, 2026
A new Science Mission Directorate (SMD) Request for Information (RFI) entitled “Advancement of “Science as a Service (SaaS) for NASA and Commercial Partners” (NNH26ZDA006L) seeks input from commercial and research communities on future strategies for NASA’s emerging Science as a Service (SaaS) initiative that aims to accelerate technology maturation, advance public-private partnerships, and expand access to space for next‑generation science capabilities.
Through this RFI, NASA seeks to engage with the commercial and research communities across Earth Science, Space Weather, and Astrophysics.
The SaaS RFI requests input from U.S. and international stakeholders—including industry, universities, nonprofits, Federally‑-Funded Research and Development Centers (FFRDCs), government partners, and individual researchers—on topics such as:
Commercial technology needs that could benefit from NASA validation or flight access.
Demonstration and on-orbit validation requirements for commercial use cases.
Streamlined integration pathways, payload interfaces, and data operations support.
Transition of NASA-validated technologies into commercial offerings and product lines.
Approaches to strengthen and expand partnerships across the Earth Science, Space Weather, and Astrophysics communities.
Responses are due by April 23, 2026. Responses will directly inform NASA’s Venture Technology Accelerator (VTA) in Earth Science, Space Weather observational architecture planning, and emerging astrophysics technology transition concepts. Specifically this RFI seeks to:
Expand collaborative pathways that lower technical, schedule, and financial risk for emerging science technologies.
Enable NASA and partners to validate and transition next‑generation sensors, instruments, subsystems, and data‑processing capabilities.
Strengthen commercial hosting, rideshare, and downstream applications of NASA‑developed technologies.
Support vibrant commercial ecosystems for Earth Science, Space Weather, and Astrophysics domains.
For the full text of the RFI and response instructions, visit the SaaS landing page on the NASA Solicitation and Proposal Integrated Review and Evaluation System (NSPIRES) at https://go.nasa.gov/saasrfi .
Questions and comments concerning this RFI may be sent to: Michael Seablom, Associate Director for Technology, Earth Science Division, NASA Headquarters, Michael.S.Seablom@nasa.gov, or Shawn Domagal-Goldman, Director, Astrophysics Division, NASA Headquarters, Shawn.Goldman@nasa.gov.
Please do not use these email addresses for RFI submissions. RFI submissions made through email will not be considered.
https://astrobiology.com/2026/03/advancement-of-science-as-a-service-saas-for-nasa-and-commercial-partners-request-for-information.html
https://nspires.nasaprs.com/external/viewrepositorydocument/cmdocumentid=1119769/solicitationId=%7BBD1357DE-6E91-52F1-E8F4-212684B1D8CD%7D/viewSolicitationDocument=1/RFI%20SaaS%20Final%203.24.26%20Due%20Date%20Fix.pdf